How to get a domain away from somebody

[telstar1]

Anybody have any experience trying to get a domain name away from sombody else?
This guy has had a domain name since 1995, but right now it's just redirecting users to a different domain ... not too useful.

What I'm afraid of is if I send him an email, he'll instantly react by thinking the domain has some tremendous value and I'll never get it from him.
What's the best way to approach trying to buy it from him?

 

[Russ]

telstar1,

You could try making an anonymous offer through http://www.afternic.com.

Russ, NCNE

 

[BigJohnKC]

Go over to his house, beat the crap out of him and steal his paperwork.

 

[b0mbrman]

<< telstar1,
You could try making an anonymous offer through http://www.afternic.com.
Russ, NCNE >>


It won't let me make an offer on Microsoft.com

 

[Magicthyse]

If he has a right to hold it - either runs a business in that name, it's his name, etc etc - lots of room for interpretation here if it's not a trademarked name - normal commercial rules apply. You ask him nicely and ask if he's willing to sell the domain. It's then up to him to accept the offer or not. If it's on a redirect to a pointless domain/site, the chances are of course high that he's holding on to the domain because he entertains the hope that one day it might be his fortune

A friend of mine did this and sold two domains - nothing terribly special he thought, just a couple of cute-sounding names he decided to register and to put his design sites under, then stopped and kept - for $75,000 each last year to a large company. $150K ain't bad is it?

If, on the other hand, he doesn't have a right to hold it - well there's now a fairly well established grievance procedure.

 

[telstar1]

Nah, he's got just as much a right to the name as I would ... I just wish there was a way to offer to buy it without dollar signs showing up in his eyes.

 

[fastz28]

What if it's expiring soon? How do you get it if s/he doesn't renew? Anyway to "steal" it? Someone has mylastname.com and I want it!!

 

[ThaGrandCow]

Why don't you start with the truth?
Write him an email saying that you just want to put up a personal webpage and you noticed that his page hasn't been changed since 95. Offer him a hundred bucks or so for his time, maybe a bit more if he pre-paid the registration for the next few years.

 

[Russ]

<< Offer him a hundred bucks or so for his time >>



That would just piss him off. He's got at least double that in renewal fees since registering the domain.

Russ, NCNE

 

[DaiShan]

yeah but what people have to understand now is that you don't make money simply by having a good dot com name, it is the content now, and then it still isn't common to make much money.

 

[telstar1]

I ended up writing two guys ... one that held the .net domain ... the other that held the .com domain I was interested in. The .net wrote back and said he had plans for it ... he was friendly, and polite. The guy with the .com was a complete jerk. This is what he wrote back:

"Based on your reference to a 'personal' web site, it does not appear that you would have even close to the necessary demand to purchase this valuable domain name."

So I wrote him back ... asked what his asking price was ... and he quoted me $125,000.00. I wrote back, told him best of luck getting that for a domain name these days, and decided to seek a new name.

I guess I should've learned from the sig of TheGrandCow listed below:

Well kids, you tried your best and you failed... The lesson is: never try
-Homer Simpson

 

[yakko]

What is the name so I can laugh at him in email?

 

[Russ]

<< ... and he quoted me $125,000.00. >>



Obviously, this boy hasn't paid much attention to the domain market over the last couple years. OTOH, if he doesn't need to sell it, the cost to hold on and wait isn't much.

Russ, NCNE